Overwriting Windows 7 OEM on boot

[jcarpenter17]

So when I first ordered my parts for my computer I thought I could just reuse an old hard drive with and OEM version of windows 7. Long story short now I have a computer with everything but an OS. I was wondering if I could install a version of linux through USB and it looks like I can. But I have a few concerns:

1. Will my computer be able to go to bios even if the hard drive still has the OEM version of windows?

2. If I can can get to the bios without deleting windows will I still be able to overwrite the hard drive's OS with linux?

3. When I boot linux will I be able to set up my computer from there?

I guess the biggest question is can I install linux without deleting windows from the hard drive and get it to work?

 

[USAFRet]

1. Yes. The BIOS happens long before the OS
2. Yes
3. Yes

4. Now...that is a whole different question. 'Can you install Linux, without affecting the existing Windows OS'

Yes, if you are very, very careful with the whole partitioning thing.

My questions -
1. Why do you want to install Linux?
2. Do you want to dual boot?

You can run Linux from a LiveCD, just as a temp thing if you want.

 

[Mr5oh]

Yes Linux can be installed from a USB, that is the preferred method these days.

Windows or any OS for that matter won't lock you out of the BIOS, the BIOS is completely separate from the OS.

You can erase Windows when you install Linux or keep it. You will have options to do this during the setup.

Linux is very easy to setup generally. If everything works when it boots up from the memory stick, everything will work once installed. If you are unlucky enough to have some hardware that doesn't work natively in Linux things might get interesting. This however is rare these days.

I would recommend Linux Mint Cinnamon to start with.

 

[jcarpenter17]

1. I want to install linux because I don't want to spend $100 on a new version of Windows.
2. no

I don't mind having windows deleted from the drive, in fact it's useless now because the computer which it originated had a fried mobo. I read that an OEM version of windows will only work with the original mobo because it is tied to it.

 

[jcarpenter17]

Thanks for the help